The present invention relates to a folding method of an airbag for rear-end collision for protecting an occupant in a rear seat of a vehicle from impact applied to a rear portion of the vehicle, and an airbag apparatus for rear-end collisition including the airbag for a rear-end collision.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-362284 discloses an airbag apparatus for rear-end collision. The airbag apparatus includes an elongated airbag folded like a bellows. The airbag is housed in a vehicle rear end portion between a roof panel of a vehicle and a roof headlining, and is arranged parallel with a width direction of the vehicle.
At the time of actuation of the airbag apparatus, the airbag is inflated and deployed behind a rearmost seat of the vehicle. When inflated and deployed, the airbag forms an approximately trapezoidal shape gradually extending from an upper side to a lower side with respect to a width direction of the vehicle.
Generally, a rear part of a passenger compartment becomes larger from a roof of the vehicle toward a lower portion with respect to a width direction of the vehicle. In the case of the airbag of the above-described Publication, the width in a longitudinal direction of the folded airbag is larger than the width of the rear part of the passenger compartment with respect to the width direction of the vehicle, and therefore it is difficult to house the airbag in the vehicle.
When the airbag is inflated and developed, an end portion of the airbag sometimes is deployed while being swung in a direction to intersect a deployment direction of the airbag, and therefore a deployment of the airbag is not stable.